Existing connectors with a retainer to prevent terminals from being detached include a connector disclosed in Patent Literature 1. As illustrated in FIGS. 13 to 16, the connector 50 includes a housing 51 containing terminals 70 and a retainer 60 which is mounted on the housing 51 to prevent the terminals 70 from moving in the direction of detachment.
The housing 51 includes a housing body portion 52, a bending space S on the left and right outer sides of the housing body portion 52, and a pair of reinforcing beam portions 53 provided integrally with the housing body portion 52 with the bending space S in between. The housing body portion 52 includes a connector fitting chamber (not illustrated) into which a mating connector is fitted and two terminal cavities 54 opened in the innermost position in the connector fitting chamber (not illustrated). Each of the terminal cavities 54 receives a terminal 70 inserted from the side opposite to the connector fitting chamber (not illustrated). The terminals 70 fully inserted in the terminal cavities 54 are prevented from moving in the direction of detachment by a lance (not illustrated) on a side of the housing body portion 52. The terminal 70 received in the terminal cavity 54 projects its mating contact portion (not illustrated) into the connector fitting chamber (not illustrated).
A retainer insertion hole 55 that is opened at the two terminal cavities 54 from above is provided in the housing body portion 52. A pair of provisional locking projections 56 and a pair of final locking projections 57 which project at the left and right positions of the retainer insertion hole 55 are provided in the housing body portion 52.
The retainer 60 includes a retainer may body 61 and a pair of elastic arms 62 which is vertically suspended from both sides of the retainer main body 61 and can bend and deform. Two terminal locking portions 61a are provided in the retainer main body 61. A locking claw 62a projecting from the inner surface of the tip of each of the elastic arms 62 is provided in each of the elastic arms 62.
A procedure for attaching terminals to the housing 51 will now be described. First, the retainer 60 is inserted into the retainer insertion hole 55 from above the housing 51 as illustrated in FIG. 14. Then, the pair of locking claws 62a of the retainer 60 interferes with each of the provisional locking projections 56 of the housing 51, but each of the elastic arms 62 bends and deforms by a reactive force from each of the provisional locking projections 56 to allow insertion of the retainer 60. When the retainer 60 is inserted to a position where the locking claws 62a thereof override the provisional locking projections 56, the elastic arms 62 bends and restores the deformation. Thereby, each of the locking claws 62a of the retainer 60 is locked at the provisional locking projection 56 of the housing 51 as illustrated in FIG. 15. Thus, the retainer 60 is provisionally locked. At the provisional locking position, the respective terminal locking portions 61a of the retainer 60 are located at a position before entering the terminal cavities 54.
Then, the terminals 70 are inserted into the depth of the terminal cavities 54. When the terminals 70 are fully inserted, the lance (not illustrated) prevents movement in the direction of detachment.
Then, the retainer 60 is into the depth of the retainer insertion hole 55. Then, each of the locking claws 62a of the retainer 60 interferes with each of the final locking projections 57 of the housing 51, but each of the elastic arms 62 bends and deforms by a reactive force from each of the final locking projections 57 to allow insertion of the retainer 60. When the retainer 60 is inserted to a position where the pair of locking claws 62a overrides each of the final locking projections 57, each of the elastic arms 62 bends and restores the deformation. Thereby, each of the locking claws 62a of the retainer 60 is locked at the final locking projections 57 of the housing 51 as illustrated in FIG. 16. Thus, the retainer 60 is finally locked. At the final locking position, each of the terminal locking portions 61a of the retainer 60 enters each of the terminal cavities 54 to prevent the movement of the terminals 70 in the direction of detachment.
In this conventional example, detachment of the terminals 70 can be reliably prevented because the terminals 70 are doubly locked by the lance (not illustrated) and the retainer 60.